Master of Fact: The Lazarus Files
by Mr.Vaz
Summary: Following the Great Batarian Crime, a series of secure messages between the Illusive Man and one of his operatives was intercepted. The reports, which offer an encyclopedic analysis of various military facets, have been compiled here. These documents are classified: Tier two (eyes only) by the Human Systems Alliance. Unauthorized use will be considered an act of treason.
1. Firearms

_[Secure communique intercepted]_

_[Decrypting. . . Decryption complete]_

_Sender ID: [error: Illusive]_

_Congratulations again on your retrieval of Shepard. While the complications were unexpected, I am glad to see that he wasn't a total loss._

_Reproduced here are a series of documents that may prove useful to the second phase of Project Lazarus, regardless of who ends up at the helm. Our informants and researchers will actively amend and complement these sources with their own findings while you repair and rehabilitate Shepard. If you find any area lacking, or have a specific request for more intel, I will prioritize those avenues to get what you need._

* * *

**A note on weapons utilizing element zero ("eezo") and their prevalence in the galaxy:**

Prior to the reverse-engineering of the geth's disposable heat sink technology in late 2183, all firearms utilizing mass effect technology were powered by rechargeable batteries specifically designed for each gun model. The energy stored in these batteries was used for four main purposes:

1) Shaping and launching the projectile

2) Powering the mass effect field

3) Active targeting assists and gun modifications

4) Weapon cooling

The first use is what allows the gun to fire. Methods vary widely by manufacturer and make, from laser-cutting with a physical hammer as a launching mechanism to monomolecular shavers with electromagnetic propulsion to everything in between. Manufacturers closely guard the exact strengths of their weapons' firing mechanisms, though the urge to impart more force on gunshots is tempered by the fact that it is more efficient to give a power boost to the mass effect field.

The second use is what allows the firearm to get most of its punch, and lets gunshots damage or pierce kinetic barriers. A small current is passed through a particle of eezo ranging from twenty to a hundred milligrams. This reduces the mass of the chambered projectile to nearly zero. Since force is driven by a simple Newtonian equation (force equals mass times acceleration), reducing the mass to be moved allows significantly increased acceleration. With this, a shot that barely eclipses the sound barrier in atmosphere becomes a mass-reduced one that goes up to a thousandth of the speed of light in vacuum.

While the massive boost in launch speed has rendered projectile drift all but negligible, most soldiers, police forces, and mercenaries utilize some form of active targeting to aid in accurate shot placement. Many criminal elements also add various modifications to their weapons, including tampering with rounds to impart incendiary or toxic qualities and adding bayonets or custom barrels. Highly illegal, the large-scale deployment of these modifications is considered a war crime in Citadel space. Only Spectres and their deputies are allowed to carry these, though rumors abound that black ops groups of various species also use these tools.

Weapon cooling consumes the most power by far (98.1 ±1.7%). While passive cooling is technically possible, it would take over an hour to cool an overheated weapon without use of a built-in refrigeration unit and coolant fluid. These systems allow weapons to stay cool enough to fire without injuring the operator by extracting built-up heat and venting it into the air in between shots. Sustained fire causes a failsafe to kick in, preventing the weapon from firing to prevent the gun from malfunctioning or exploding in the user's hands.

The most common venue in weapons research, prior to the Krogan Rebellions, was in producing more reliable and higher-capacity batteries. Following incidents involving veterans of the rachni wars, where disillusioned krogan often took hostages using long-lasting military hardware, Citadel space has unilaterally used a grading system for firearms licenses, with higher-grade weapons being those that could last for longer periods in an active combat situation without needing to be recharged. While the Council has yet to agree on a new system for grading weapons that utilize disposable heat sinks, there is strong pressure to develop one within the next five years that supports the previous licenses. The old grading system (and licenses required to carry them) is reproduced below:

**Grade I** (civilian emergency defense license): These weapons can last up to a Citadel-standard hour in active combat scenarios before needing to be recharged. This dramatically reduced the amount of hostage situations that have occurred in Citadel space; to extend a hostage situation, hostage-takers would have to either acquire an illegal recharge unit or turn on the weapon's safety, stopping it from draining the battery but leaving the hostage-taker vulnerable to counterattack from hostages and police. Civilians can recharge their firearms at gun ranges only, and logs are kept of when and where every licensed carrier charges their weapon. This is the only class of weapon that is allowed to be concealed when carried by civilians.

**Grade II** (hunter's license): Hunter-grade weapons can last for two hours with the safety off before needing a recharge. These weapons are only given to experienced shooters who have undergone a short psych evaluation and paid additional fees. These weapons must be displayed openly on colonies, or carried in a case on homeworlds, the Citadel, and certain high-density population centers. Hunters are allowed to purchase portable single-use charging units for their weapons, though the units produce a powerful data pulse that sends their location and identity to the nearest comm buoy when used.

**Grade III** (law enforcement or colonial militia license): Formerly for security forces only, human politicians successfully pushed to allow citizens under high risk of attack by pirate or slaver forces to carry these weapons after the Skyllian Blitz. This is the first license grade that allows for free access to any recharging facilities, present for militias in the form of exactly two free-use recharging stations in every colony dubbed to be of "sufficiently high risk and importance to human colonial efforts". While the turians and volus lobbied to eventually gain the same rights on their own colonies in 2179, the scale used to determine risk is heavily weighted in favor of colonies in the Attican Traverse. These three-hour weapons have been standard-issue for C-Sec forces for the past 1300 years.

**Grade IV** (special response and military license): While military forces of any species can carry any weapons up to class five as long as they were produced by companies run by their own military, this is the first class that is restricted completely from civilian use. Special-response teams use these against armed mercenaries and gangs who attempt to circumvent the law. The weapons run on an omni-tool verification protocol; unless the user has the required license key embedded in their omni-tool, the gun will not fire. This system isn't impossible to hack, but software updates are sent daily; a security failure that was exploited one day may be patched within the week. The first human-made Grade-IV weapons were introduced by a joint venture between Hane-Kedar and Cord-Hislop in 2173.

**Grade V** (military license): The Citadel Conventions dictated that no armed forces should mass-produce infantry weapons that last longer than five hours in sustained combat, considering them to be a Tier V weapon of mass destruction. As such, Grade V weapons are the highest-quality weapons used in "official" actions by any military in Citadel space. While higher-grade weapons do exist in the Alliance, they are used only by black-ops soldiers, such as the corsairs, for reasons of deniability. Outside of Citadel space, the black market pays top dollar for weapons of this quality. Noveria, which is technically not under Citadel law, uses this to its advantage; Elanus Risk Control Services historically owns a monopoly among security forces on that planet, owing its influence to a network of suppliers who have access to turian military hardware and can simulate the verification codes needed to use them.

**Grade VI** (Council bodyguards and STG agents): Those who guard the Council chambers are notable for being the only people who can keep their weapon's safety off for an entire Citadel work shift (five hours) without needing to recharge or switch their weapons. Their guns can last up to six hours and have built-in DNA, voiceprint, and fingerprint verification protocols to ensure that nobody else can use their weapons. A little-known loophole in the Citadel Conventions allows agents of the salarians' Special Tasks Group (which was dubbed a research branch rather than a true military) to carry these weapons for certain missions requiring longer deployments.

**Grade VII and above** (Justicars, Spectres, and their deputies): While the official policy of the Council is to disavow the continued existence of any weapons that can be used for longer than six Citadel-standard hours (eight hours and twenty minutes Earth-standard) without disposable heat sinks, Justicars and Spectres are granted the privilege to use whatever means necessary to uphold either the Justicar Code or the safety of the Citadel and its protectorates, respectively. Rare even in the black markets outside of Citadel space, these weapons utilize bleeding-edge technology to hit harder and last longer than any other guns in their class. Their identity verification systems are almost impregnable without the assistance of an AI, but "unlocked" weapons of this caliber are prized trophies and signature weapons of krogan warlords and people in power throughout the Terminus Systems.

**Disposable heat sinks**: All weapons with disposable heat sinks are technically illegal in Council space, as even a model with high heat generation and a low-quality battery that would be present in a Grade I weapon would last for several Citadel-standard days without recharging. Unfortunately, the crackdown on these weapons has proven far from successful. Once the principles were learned from the geth, they proved easy to mass-produce, even for small mercenary companies that used their own "home-brewed" weapons that were modified from easy-to-obtain civilian weapons. Because the mercs got them, slavers started getting them. Because slavers got them, colonists started getting them. Because colonists got them, military elements started developing their own in preparation for the inevitable upheaval of the entire grade system. Even C-Sec has quietly replaced their own weapons with ones using what has been adopted as the universal heat sink, as shown by the Great Batarian Crime. All personnel in the Lazarus Cell will be provided with weapons utilizing universal heat sinks.

* * *

**RE: Cultural attitudes to firearms**

Prior to 2183, an attitude of conservation held true for weapons use by police and security forces. They would keep their firearms (usually just a pistol) visible, but would not activate them until absolutely needed or until the beginning of a mission. Thus, C-Sec (and other security forces) were seen as benign watchers, noble but ready to answer the call. In response, mercenaries and criminals would rely on concealment and surprise. In the Terminus, being "quick on the draw" was far more important than having a gun that could outlast your opponents in individual combat, save for protracted engagements. Council bodyguards, however, were allowed longer-lasting weapons to keep the public cowed and in awe. The presence of armed guards who persistently kept their weapon at the ready was seen as a testament to their power and resources; you couldn't surprise them, and their would land any civilian in jail for a long time just for possession.

Armed forces, conversely, made up for the limitations of their weapons in various ways. Salarians improved the quality and portability of their field chargers to allow their soldiers to operate while carrying only essential weapons. While a civilian hunter's single-use field charger takes an hour to fully recharge a Class II weapon, STG prototypes can charge even a Class VI in half the time, and can recharge by absorbing ambient light and heat. The design of these chargers is highly guarded, and is valuable enough that even the Shadow Broker refuses to sell the designs to other armed forces. Whether it is solely because the Broker uses them for his own forces or because the STG actively bribes him to keep it a secret is unknown. Turians are notable for their redundant loadouts when deployed. The average soldier is known to carry two assault rifles, two pistols, and a single support weapon into combat. Commanders buck this trend, carrying two assault rifles and two support weapons of a single type. Batarian Hegemony squads have armorer units, expendable slaves who ferried spare copies of weapons that could only be fired by their masters during combat. Human military doctrine favors flexibility and team unity, with every soldier carrying a single weapon of every major type (assault rifle, pistol, and one each of shotgun and sniper). During combat, squads will have at least one of each weapon drawn at all times, and will regularly exchange guns with the backups carried by their squadmates. This allows them to be prepared for any type of situation.

The disposable heat sink has led to a massive shift away from the norm in weapons production. While guns without them relied on reliability, interchangeability, and keeping near-identical characteristics to please consumers, research into power systems that could keep weapons active longer was prohibitively expensive for even established Citadel powers; a single full complement of HMWA Spectre gear is reputed to cost several million credits. Weapons without built-in heat sinks, however, rely much less on bleeding-edge tech. This has led to a renaissance of weapons development, with smaller manufacturers emerging and shining by standing out with their own unique modifications. A revival of archaic human terms, such as "hand cannons" and "marksman rifles" owes itself to the success of weapons that break the mold of the classic weapon types, like the carnifex and mattock. Intelligence reports suggest that these, along with the Salarian-developed viper rifle and the turian military's vindicator, are not going away anytime soon. While the Council has yet to pass an official word on what constitutes a civilian model, their ease of production and increasing presence has led to a state of unease among the public, along with an increase in applications for civilian and hunter licenses.

* * *

**A/N: **Originally, this was going to be a codex entry of sorts for the end of a future chapter of _Master of Fact_. When it grew to be larger than the chapter it would have ended, I decided to split it off into its own work. This is an "inspired by canon" expansion of the ME-verse, framed around the Lazarus Project and written in the vein of 1054SS325MP's _Warrior Ethos Information_ and LogicalPremise's _Documentation: A guide to the Systems Alliance Order Of Battle_. Future planned releases are meant to showcase the _MoF_ version of various military organizations, while expanding on the impact of some of Shepard's non-canon decisions in _MoF._

This particular release came up as a result of me (over-)thinking reasons for why everybody would switch from the automatically-cooling weapons of _ME1_ to the heat sinks of _ME2_ within two years, while also explaining why you have Tali (someone whose father most likely kept her out of the military on purpose until her return from Pilgrimage) and Liara (a researcher who cares more for academia than gunfights) running around while carrying half an armory everywhere in the first game and why the armor classes of _ME1 _are completely gone by _ME2_. Is there a more elegant solution? Probably. But having it go from "better guns need extremely expensive and untested batteries to last very long" to "anyone can make them now, and battery life isn't an issue" worked best for the story.

Feel free to use the idea, just give credit where it's due!


	2. Alliance Tactics: Non-Biotics

_[Hacked conversation thread 00218567363 from IPartner Connections follows.]_

_MadamLaw [Unlisted EP address. Logged as "Operative 1219".]: If we're planning on using him for this, we'll need to know how he thinks on the battlefield. I'll need a brief rundown of Alliance infantry doctrine. _

_CallMeSir [EP address mirrors suggest ID: Illusive]: Consider it done._

* * *

**Humans**: Humanity has one of the most diverse infantries in the galaxy, thanks to the presence of a significant base of tech support specialists, a huge number of more traditional "vanilla" soldiers, and small -though dense- clusters of biotics born after vehicle collisions that spread large swaths of eezo dust over settlements. Not all of these were accidental, as revealed when the Aphrodite Cell was compromised.

**Non-biotics**: Due to eezo's relatively recent discovery, as well as its complete absence from Earth, over 99% of humanity does not possess any manifestation of biotic powers.

In order to take advantage of the full battery life of everyone's weapons, every member of a squad would carry an identical loadout of four guns, with every person keeping a different weapon type drawn at any given moment. If a gun's battery became low, the member would swap it for the identical weapon carried by one of his or her squadmates. This was intentional, serving the dual purpose of encouraging team unity and keeping soldiers from needing to adjust to a new weapon every time they swapped out a dead gun. While the carrying of additional –and often unnecessary– weapons was frowned upon by efficiency-obsessed salarians, this tactic allowed humanity to keep supplying all of their standing army without splurging on weapons with longer battery life and other features. This was a key factor that allowed the Alliance to retake Shanxi from the turians in the First Contact War, despite the Heirarchy's longer-lasting weapons.

While submachine guns (SMGs) are still used by some special-response police and gangs on Earth, they generated a large amount of heat for a small amount of relatively weak shots in the cooling technology that existed prior to the advent of disposable heat sinks. SMGs also lacked room for larger batteries like assault rifles or the accuracy of pistols. Because of this, they were almost never seen in use by the Alliance military from the advent of human mass accelerator rounds to 2182. It is unknown how the disposable heat sink will effect Alliance military doctrine at this time, though a past history of adaptability suggests that they will be reincorporated at some point.

**Soldier**: Sparta was a dominant military power in its time not because of the use of cutting-edge technology, but because they were well-trained and were able to adapt a few choice tools –sword, spear, shield, and armor– into an effective art that utilized all four, plus teamwork, to overcome any situation. Borrowing from this ethos, the average Alliance soldier relies heavily on weapons and squad unity to kill and stay alive on the battlefield. They are typically trained in the use of assault rifles and pistols as a sidearm, plus situational use of shotguns and sniper rifles. They focus on refining their techniques and body, keeping themselves sharp for when they need to use any of their weapons in battle. They also perform rigorous strength-training regimens to enable themselves to carry heavier armor, in addition to their four weapons.

**Infiltrator:** In the ill-fated _Galaxy of Fantasy_ spinoff, _Galaxy of Strategy_, the player-character's commanding officer had exactly one line: "You can win with upgrades, but the tech is expensive as hell." There is some truth in holovision. Picked early from recruited soldiers during boot camp, those who showed remarkable propensity for multitasking and improvised arms were given additional training in basic omni-tool-based warfare. In addition, they were given extra training in a single full-sized weapon instead of all three options based on whether they showed a tendency for aggression, calm, or flexibility in simulated firefights. This didn't come cheap to the Alliance; a recent estimate puts the cost of training and outfitting a single infiltrator unit at over three hundred thousand credits. However, they show a long history of acclaim in the field, particularly in solo missions. This has caught the eye of many in the upper echelons of the Alliance military's command structure, especially since increasing numbers of them have qualified for a session at The Villa, the acclaimed school for N-rated special forces personnel.

**Engineer:** This is a catch-all label used for non-biotic specialists when placed groundside in a squad. Whether it's a tank driver, shuttle pilot, bomb specialist, dedicated hacker, repairman, researcher, cannon operator, or a civilian designer, they all fall under the same umbrella term as soon as their boots touch the ground and a rifle gets thrown into their hands. Due to the stigma of escorting an "effin' engie" [often written "FNNG" or "FnNG", to distinguish it from the classic term "FNG"], most marines despise having to work with those who fall under this category.

This is not to say they are all useless on the ground; rather, their roles are so specific, and their firearms skills so limited, that they are seen as a liability to a military ethos that prides adaptability of its masses over having the right tool for the job. While the vast majority of Alliance "engineers" fall under its naval branch, there are a small, dedicated corps of combat engineers within the marines. These engineers focus on advanced counter-techniques for combating infiltrators and biotic support infantry. The techniques they utilize in the field vary greatly from person to person, as they are encouraged to develop their own attack protocols and carry heavily-modded armor suits to provide the extra power output for their omni-tool attacks. This isn't without a price, however, as it's well-known that anyone untrained in the use of a combat engineer's powered armor is just as likely to make himself explode as his enemies. Like the infiltrator, these combat engineers are almost prohibitively expensive to produce within the Alliance. However, the costs of fielding one are far outweighed by the gains of having them available, even with the attached stigma they face from their squadmates.


End file.
